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autologous blood and marrow transplantation - Blog Science ...

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Moss et al. 269<br />

0 15 70 143 200 400 600 800 900<br />

Months Post -ASCT<br />

Figure 1. Survival curve comparing the disease-free survival of patients with an ICC-pos-<br />

itive <strong>marrow</strong> to those with a negative sample.<br />

RESULTS<br />

Paired <strong>marrow</strong> <strong>and</strong> stem cell samples were available from 246 stage IV patients.<br />

All samples were evaluated using ICC, <strong>and</strong> 130 PBPC <strong>and</strong> 66 bone <strong>marrow</strong><br />

samples were analyzed using the clonogenic assay.<br />

The <strong>marrow</strong> was positive in 43 instances (17.5%), <strong>and</strong> the PBPC was positive<br />

in 40 cases (16.2%). In 15 patients, the <strong>marrow</strong> <strong>and</strong> PBPC both had breast cancer<br />

cells detected. The <strong>marrow</strong> <strong>and</strong> PBPC were negative for tumor cells in 178 women<br />

(see Table 1).<br />

Clinical follow-up was available for 246 patients. The overall DFS was 15% for<br />

all patients at a median follow-up of 30 months. The median DFS was significantly<br />

reduced for patients with ICC-positive <strong>marrow</strong> (146 days) when compared with<br />

patients who were ICC-negative (458 days; P=0.0001; see Fig. 1).<br />

All 15 patients whose <strong>marrow</strong> <strong>and</strong> PBPC samples were positive for tumor<br />

relapsed (median DFS 286 days vs. 423 days; P=0.015). The patient group with the<br />

Table 1. The incidence of breast cancer cells in <strong>marrow</strong> <strong>and</strong> PBPC collections<br />

Specimen type ICC positive ICC negative<br />

Marrow 43 203<br />

PBPC 40 246<br />

Marrow <strong>and</strong> PBPC* 15 178<br />

*53 patients had only one specimen for breast cancer cells (either the <strong>marrow</strong> or the<br />

PBPC).

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